A review of economic considerations for cover crops as a conservation practice

Abstract

Over the past few decades, farmers have increasingly integrated cover crops into their cropping systems. Cover-crop benefits can help a farmer to achieve sustainability or reduce negative environmental externalities, such as soil erosion or chemical runoff. However, the impact on farm economics will likely be the strongest incentive to adopt cover crops. These impacts can include farm profits, cash crop yields or both. This paper provides a review of cover-crop adoption, production, risk and policy considerations from an economic perspective. These dimensions are examined through a review of cover-crop literature. This review was written to provide an overview of cover crops and their impacts on the farm business and the environment, especially with regard to economic considerations. Through increasing knowledge about cover crops, the intent here is to inform producers contemplating adoption and policy makers seeking to encourage adoption.

Short‐run net returns to a cereal rye cover crop mix in a midwest corn–soybean rotation

“…This is not surprising given that economic returns to cover crop systems are largely unsubstantiated. Further, quantifying the direct and indirect costs and benefits associated with cover crop adoption in the short and long run can be complex (Bergtold, Ramsey, Maddy, & Williams, 2017; Roth, Ruffatti, O'Rourke, & Armstrong, 2018; Snapp et al., 2005).…”

Do cover crops improve the productivity and industrial quality of upland rice?

“…Another important function of cover crops is nutrient cycling (Bergtold, Ramsey, Maddy, & Williams, 2017;Blanco-Canqui, Claassen, & Presley, 2012), which helps to avoid nutrient loss from the agricultural system. However, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms responsible for the release of nutrients (Singer, Cambardella, & Moorman, 2008).…”

“…In addition to the C/N ratio, information on the half-life and nutrient release of straw allows the period in which the soil is adequately covered to be determined, as well as the timing between nutrient release and the phase of highest nutrient demand by the following crop (Gama-Rodrigues, Gama- Rodrigues, & Brito, 2007). The consolidation of NTS depends on the inclusion of plant species with greater straw-producing potential and a long persistence time in the soil, as well as species that accumulate a greater amount of nutrients (Teixeira, Soares, Fernandes, & Braz, 2014) and release the nutrients in sync with the greatest demand of the subsequent crop (Bergtold et al, 2017;Jahanzad et al, 2016).…”

Renters, landlords, and farmland stewardship

“…That said, the adoption of cover crops remains low; see Bergtold et al. () for a detailed characterization of the economic factors that may influence the low adoption rate in the United States, which was approximately 4% in 2011. The research that examines adoption from an economic standpoint suggests that there are substantial direct and indirect up‐front costs due to cover crops, but uncertain benefits—primarily arising out of longer term soil productivity improvements (Schnitkey et al., ).…”

“…More recently, Bergtold et al. () survey the literature to assess the economic motivations for the adoption of cover crops. One conclusion of their assessment is that negative short‐term outcomes due to cover crops are traded off against positive long‐term outcomes.…”